Just got back - Here's the breakdown...

KCmike

Never have fallen asleep on any
Joined
Jul 4, 2007
Messages
9,783
Hotel - Fairfield Inn. We've stayed here twice before and its always been clean, comfortable, convenient, and somewhat affordable for us. The prices have gone up over the years but what hasn't.

Crowds - Consistently more crowded than other times I've been. I am lucky to have visited quite a bit in the last year and this was easily the busiest. The Disneyland APP was spot on with wait times and was very helpful in determining what to ride and what to stay away from. It was also dead on when a ride went down. I strongly recommend it.

New to Me: Hyperspace Mountain - It was obviously the same ride with some new theatrics. Star Wars music and some graphics of the x-wing fighter and other spaceships projected in the ride. It was fun.

Matterhorn seats - Still one rough ride. The "new" seat cushions were horrible. I'm not sure I saw anything new. I do like being able to jump on the ride doing single rider almost immediately though. This is something I never did before. Just behind the fantasyland side of the ride que you can obtain a single rider ticket and get on within minutes.

Soarin' - Glad to see the California version one last time. As others have stated the scents of the ride have disappeared.

Frozen Stage Show - On a scale of 1-10 I would give it a 7. Others in my family gave it much much worse. It has many flaws. The show is way to long as drags in many parts. The theatrics are well done. I like the CGI, staircase scene, and the sleigh ride moment in the show. Olaf needs a bigger part with more dialogue. The wardrobe on Anna is a little sleazy in my opinion. Why does she have a dress with nothing over the shoulder? Doesn't look right to me. We didn't see the color blind casting in our version but the singing moments were not as good as Aladdin. Heck they weren't as good as Mickey and the Magical Map. I know its only a week old but it was disappointing.
We got there at 8am and the line was all the way to the first store on the left of Buena Vista Street. I was shocked. It moved very fast and we got tickets for the first showing at 12:30 I believe the time was. I then headed over to World of Color and got Yellow tickets and then over to get RSR and got 12:45 tickets.

Food - Plaza Inn is still the best meal for me. I tried Carnation Cafe chicken fried chicken and it wasn't as good as plaza inn for me. Corn dogs rule both at Corn dog wagon and at Stage Door Cafe.
Breakfast at Rancho Del Zocalo just doesn't feel the same as it does at Riverbelle Terrace. Food was good but can't beat the atmosphere of the Rivers of America.

Overall Experience - B+
Missed having so many rides closed but having the trains stopped on their tracks was fun for photography and just hanging out on. You can sit on them and rest as long as you want. On the maninstreet station you can sit in the tender seat and get treated with a little demonstration.

Disneyland forever was just as good as before. Love it.
Paint the night - ditto. Great parade.
World of Color - Was happy with the Yellow section
We camped out one night at a bench on the right side of the hub. One person in our group would take turns holding out a bench while the rest would ride. Once it got close it was perfect for the parade and then we could simply step into the street and have great views of the castle, matterhorn, and fireworks. We only did the bench holding one night.

Wish I would have scheduled more beach and down time. We scored some really low flight deals from KC to LA for $84 each way. The one coming home was on the red eye. We didn't get to bed until 3am and that made me tired for an extra day.

Super shuttle is the only way to go for us. On time and perfectly executed. At LAX they don't circle any lots. As soon as they pick you up your off and running. They would text where they were, what the van number is, and you could track them on a map. Loved it.

We took one day to visit the zoo in San Diego. For those who have wanted to try it I would definitely recommend it. It's pricey but its very well done. How can you pass up seeing the pandas?

Everyone take care!

Mike D.
 
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We are staying at the Fairfield for the first time in five weeks. Thanks for the positive input! Also, I knew there was a train at New Orleans Square, but I wasn't aware there was one at Main Street. Good to know!
 
Hey, Mike! Glad you had a good trip. Did you manage to squeeze in any dancing while at the parks? DtD now has dancing at the Main Stage (by ESPN Zone) on Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday nights, as well as the Royal Swing Ball at PFF on Saturdays.
 

Sounds like you had a great trip. Thanks for the report!
 
How did you get to the San Diego Zoo? Did you rent a car for the day? Did you just make it a day trip or stay in San Diego? Really wanting to fit this in for the kids, but trying to figure out logistics:) Thanks for the tip on Super Shuttle, we always fly into SNA and just take a taxi, but flights are so much more right now that we will be flying into LAX this time, and I was trying to figure out best transportation.
 
Great report. I was interested to read your opinions on the new Frozen show.

San Diego Zoo is on my to-do list. It always seems to get crowded out with other plans.Do you feel you covered it well with one day? Did you do one of the tours of the zoo?
 
I was there Monday last week for my niece's birthday and it was more crowded than we usually see it in July. I think all the Socal APs were trying to get in their last days before being blocked for the summer, (which is why my sister was there). I'll see how this July compares.

My energetic 5 year old niece wanted to ride all the fast rides so we tried the new Matterhorn seats too. I found they helped because I had been saying forever those seats need padding. I would get a headache from all the jarring up and down on the seat and it would just vibrate through my body. It was still jerky and not my favorite, but at least I can tolerate it now. I guess that ride affects different people in different ways.

I've never been to the Plaza Inn or Carnation Cafe. I just sort of pass them by. Maybe I should give Plaza a try. I thought it was just a character meal but I guess it isn't.

The SD zoo is something I have been wanting to do for a long time. We just need to drive down and do sometime.
Thanks for the report!
 
Breakfast at Rancho Del Zocalo just doesn't feel the same as it does at Riverbelle Terrace. Food was good but can't beat the atmosphere of the Rivers of America.
You can take your tray and go sit in the Riverbelle area. It is only a 2 min walk. I did that last trip.
 
Hey, Mike! Glad you had a good trip. Did you manage to squeeze in any dancing while at the parks? DtD now has dancing at the Main Stage (by ESPN Zone) on Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday nights, as well as the Royal Swing Ball at PFF on Saturdays.

We danced on Saturday night but the band (can't remember the name) was playing really slow music for the first two sets. We only danced a little bit. We have been taking lessons for almost seven months now and have been practicing quite a few dances (waltz, fox trot, swing, and salsa). My favorite is swing. We are slowly getting better. I want to learn west coast swing so bad because it looks like so much fun.
 
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Is blue not the first color being given at World of Color fast pass machines anymore?
Thought it was strange as well. I saw a lady handing out fast passes while people were waiting in line for Frozen fast passes. She was giving out blue but ran out by the time she got to me.
 
How did you get to the San Diego Zoo? Did you rent a car for the day? Did you just make it a day trip or stay in San Diego? Really wanting to fit this in for the kids, but trying to figure out logistics:) Thanks for the tip on Super Shuttle, we always fly into SNA and just take a taxi, but flights are so much more right now that we will be flying into LAX this time, and I was trying to figure out best transportation.
We rented a car at Best Western Park Place Inn. Can't remember their exact title but it was a strange name like Select Rental Cars. We got a Honda Accord for $59 for the day plus taxes. I first went to Alamo at DTD but they were out of cars. I should have booked ahead as I know I could have gotten a better deal with Alamo at DTD by probably $10-15 cheaper. It was nice that this place was so close to Fairfield Inn for us. We picked up there and then drove it back late that night and told the valet people at FFI we were told to leave it here. They were fully aware of how its all done and took care of it for us. If you have any further questions about it just let me know.

We love the Hotel Del Coronado so we spent the day portion at the zoo and then headed over to the DEL for dinner on Coronado and just sat and took in some ocean time on the sun deck of the hotel area. I LOVE that hotel!!!!
 
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Great report. I was interested to read your opinions on the new Frozen show.

San Diego Zoo is on my to-do list. It always seems to get crowded out with other plans.Do you feel you covered it well with one day? Did you do one of the tours of the zoo?
Zoo is easy to do in one day. It's really a nice area and would go great with Balboa Park if you had the time. Inside the zoo they have a bus ride that takes you around the perimeter of the zoo to give you a lay of the land. It lasts for about 40 min and its a double decker bus. Its free with admission and very informative.
Their is also a skyway that is free with admission that is a must do because you get to see Balboa Park, Downtown San Diego, and on a clear day can see the Pacific Ocean. There are many other things you can do inside the zoo but we chose to just walk it ourselves. We actually went there back in March for the first time without the kids and they really wanted to see it so we went again but this time with them. They all had a good time and gave it a thumbs up. The pandas was everyones favorite thing. The zoo is so dense with foliage, trees, and different paths but I must warn there are a lot of hills.
 
You can take your tray and go sit in the Riverbelle area. It is only a 2 min walk. I did that last trip.
Good to know. I don't think i would walk my food down there though as by the time I get it I want to gobble it down fast. I love breakfast food so much!!!
 
We danced on Saturday night but the band (can't remember the name) was playing really slow music for the first two sets. We only danced a little bit. We have been taking lessons for almost seven months now and have been practicing quite a few dances (waltz, fox trot, swing, and salsa). My favorite is swing. We are slowly getting better. I want to learn west coast swing so bad because it looks like so much fun.

We're sorry we missed you guys! We were dancing in DtD -- Ry Bradley is great! West Coast is on our list, too. :)
 
We're sorry we missed you guys! We were dancing in DtD -- Ry Bradley is great! West Coast is on our list, too. :)
My wife asked me if I had reached out to you but lost track of doing it. Our roof had a little damage to it before we went and it took over some of my time. Glad to hear your still out there dancing the night away.
We even walked by DTD as we ate at ESPN zone one night. I think it was Monday night. We drove to San Diego on Sunday. Wish I would have know sooner as we could have added another night of dancing to our list.
 




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